The Mojave's Freedom Fighter
by geroni211
Summary: A story about the man who killed Caesar, President Kimball and Mr. House and then took the Hoover Dam and used it to help the Mojave's people. T for violence and language
1. Chapter 1

"War does not determine who is right, only who is left"

They called him a lot of things: Agent of chaos, Mercenary, Restorer of faith and even "Real asshole sometimes".

He is known to many as the Courier, and most people don't know half of what he did.

He helped the NCR for a long time, people started accepting, and even liking him. He helped take down the fiercest of the Fiends, convinced the chief of NCR's Rangers to stop falsifying reports and so much more, he almost started believing in fighting for the NCR at the Dam.

He became a symbol of hope for the soldiers, until one day, he was declared a terrorist, they said he was "working against the NCR's interests".

The Courier hated people who stabbed him in his back, he swore to make whoever declared him an enemy of the NCR to regret their actions. And he did.

* * *

In a visit to the Dam to inspire his troops, President Kimball found out what he meant, the hard way.

After he said that last phrase on his speech as he walked towards his vertibird, he saw a paper duct taped to the vertibird.

_No Gods, No Masters_

_Courier Six, the "enemy of the NCR"_

The President didn't have a second to run after he read it. He simply looked at it and sighed.

A few days after that day, Boone said he just couldn't keep helping him. The Courier couldn't say he couldn't understand Boone's reasons. After all that time spent as a soldier for the NCR, some of that propaganda would have stuck in his brain.

He wasn't as merciful with Caesar. The man had done such horrible things, he didn't deserve to die quickly. Plus it would be more fun if he died slowly.

The Courier stopped for a second. _Did i just think what i just did?_ As the Courier began having an easier time killing people, he had started worrying if he was becoming a psychopath. He was afraid how much that worry was becoming more and more realistic.

The day the Courier entered the Fort for the 2nd time, it was the last time he entered. He was determined on making the legionnaires suffer as they died. The shishkebab, incendiary grenade machine gun rounds, and a lot of poison had done the job quite nicely.

He and ED-E killed everybody but Caesar on the Fort. Then, they piled up all the bodies, set them ablaze, and crucified Caesar with a first seat view to the pile. After that, the Courier told the slaves, to do whatever they wished to do to Caesar, as long as they didn't kill him.

After that, they waited for Vulpes Inculta to arrive and paralysed him, and threw him alive into the fire.

They say the smoke from the fire could be seen from the Mojave Outpost.

With House, the Courier actually felt bad about having to kill him. He wasn't all that bad. Honestly, the Courier didn't want to kill him, but he had to die if the Courier wanted to rule Vegas.

When it was necessary, he just apologized to him, and killed him in the most quick and painless way he could.

After all these kills, he started being hunted more and more, by bounty hunters, hit squads and even assassins.

He also started becoming more and more efficient in his fighting techniques, having near perfect aim with his revolvers, and being very proficient with martial arts. He also started becoming more and more brutal in combat.

His companions started wondering who it was their friend was becoming, a monster? A soul tormented by the Wasteland's many horrors? Or someone doing what was necessary?

Whatever the Courier was, he had managed to unite every faction in the Mojave, peacefully. He promised free stay and protection in the Mojave as long as they helped it stay safe and peaceful (it was specially hard to convince the BoS and the Great Khans to stop raiding.

He also promised they wouldn't have to assimilate. They could keep their territory and identity. This pleased the BoS, Great Khans, and specially, the Boomers.

And after they helped him defeat the NCR and Caesar's Legion at the Dam, he kept his word.

To make sure he helped all the wasteland, he created a council composed of representatives from every settlement and faction, which was united every 2 months to discuss matters.

Under the Courier's leadership, the Mojave Wasteland prospered, eliminating the Fiends and Powder Gangers. Vegas also grew, with generous gifts from the Courier, Westside and Freeside passed from poor places to live in, to a safe, residential area with a designated police force.

The Followers of the Apocalipse, also grew, having at least a clinic in every settlement, with the Mormon Fort becoming a hospital.

The Courier had managed all this in 2 years.

Besides these great news, the Courier felt unsafe. There were rumors that NCR was preparing for an invasion. And so he left his post at the Lucky 38 to go check the NCR's borders and told Cass, Veronica and Arcade to take care of the place while he was gone. It shouldn't take too much anyway.

He brought a Gobi Campaign scout rifle, a Ranger Sequoia and his modified Ballistic fist.

When he looked at himself in the mirror, he didn't like what he saw. His body had changed from a beautiful muscular and scarred killing machine to a less agile and less muscular body that had a beer belly starting to show itself.

He had let his body fall out of shape, seriously.

Before, he enjoyed using Joshua Graham's armor, because of the freedom of movement it gave him. He felt it allowed him to be able to easily adapt to the situation.

Now he didn't even fit in the damn armor!

He just decided to wear his Desert Ranger combat armor instead. At least he was a bit more protected now.

An hour after he left Vegas, he realized how much he missed being out here in the middle of the Mojave, just him and the desert. He also realized how long it had been since he was last here.

Since he convinced Ulysses to not nuke anyone of the factions.

As he approached the Mojave Outpost, the most advanced NCR post, he started noticing the sheer amount of troops the NCR had deployed at the Mojave Outpost. Hundreds.

He found a nice ridge line and watched through his sniper scope.

At least 400 troopers, and about 100 Rangers. And there were trucks filled with full squads arriving every 15 minutes. There were some trucks refitted as infantry fighting vehicles, filled with machine guns. There were also 2 vertibirds, heavily armed.

They were definitely preparing for a full-scale invasion.

Behind him, he heard a few ravens flying away. All croaking, all at the same time. _Someone must be behind me._

He looked behind him, he saw 10 veteran rangers running behind him. He panicked and fired his sniper rifle at them. One of the Rangers took two rounds to the chest, and fell dead. The one to his left took just a shot to the head. The rangers had hunting shotguns and started firing as soon as the Courier did.

Another ranger fell down with a shot to his gun first, then one to his head. And the last shot on the sniper missed.

As the Courier reloaded his gun, he got hit. _What the.. they are firing beanbag rounds?_

And after the first hit, the second, third and fourth came. The Courier started feeling more and more pained as the bean bags hit him at crazy speed.

_Damn bean bags rounds._

One of the veterans closed in and tackled the Courier as he got hit in his helmet. The Ranger injected something into the Courier's arm.

The Courier started feeling dizzy and then just blacked out.

He woke up tied up sitting on a chair. The room he was in was dark and had no windows. In front of him was a door.

He tried moving, but only ended up falling of his chair.

He heard the door in front of him open. 2 Veteran Rangers and one normal Ranger entered, the Veterans armed with Riot shotguns, and the Ranger armed only with a Ranger Sequoia.

"Not the smartest move you have made is it?" the less armed ranger said. The Courier could have sworn he recognized the voice.

That Ranger tried to pull the Courier up from the ground, but as soon as he could, the Courier bit his arm with all the strength he could.

"AH, you fucker!" the Ranger grabbed the Courier's jaw, pushed it shut and picked the Courier and his chair up from the ground. Then he punched the Courier in the face, which made him fall to the side again.

"Remember to tie him to the chair too next time" the Ranger said, caressing the bit arm, as he was going to pick the Courier up.

"Not the smartest move you have made is it?" The Couldn't hold himself from quoting the ranger.

"For someone in the position you are in, you sure have a big mouth" The Ranger said.

"Please, you must think this is the first time I'm in this position" The Courier replied " And honestly, the second guys that did this, were doing a better job. They were smart enough to nail my chair to the ground. They just didn't feel as smart when they were hung on the statues and howitzers of the Dam itself."

" But since those guys didn't have you locked up in a military base made for the most dangerous enemies of the NCR"

"You flatter me" The Courier said

The Ranger just sighed.

"You are going to stay here the rest of your life and already being annoying, that's not much of a strategy to live long."

"If I really was going to stay in here until I died, I wouldn't really lose anything by dieing sooner, would I? Notice the 'if'.

"We will be sure to see that no harm comes your way, just so you can rot here and then rot in hell."

"I will be sure not to give you any extra troubles for that." The Courier said, grinning.

After that talk, they brought him to his cell, where they gave him his cell outfit. It reminded the Courier of the outfit he had been given by Elijah, in the Sierra Madre "Adventure". Remembering the Sierra Madre gave the Courier chills.

_One of the few spots I promised myself from ever returning, no technology or caps in the whole world will ever make me return there!_

That night, he had some trouble sleeping, he had started wondering whether he really could escape this base he was in. On the way to his cell, he had noticed how much that base he was in reminded him of the Vaults he had investigated before the Second Battle for the Dam. The Warden's office was on the second floor , with a window overlooking the Cells, in a way just like in the vaults, the Overseer's office had a window overlooking the Vault dwellers' homes.

And if this was a base built on a Vault, escape would be very hard.

It also meant he would not see the day of light until escaped this place. And after Vault 34 and Vault 11, the Courier has started to dislike being in enclosed spaces, specially Vaults, so this wont be fun.  
He fell asleep thinking on how he would make every soldier in this base suffer a slow death as a revenge for this.

(A/N:First of all, thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Please give me some constructive criticism by reviewing!  
Secondly, i dont know if the Courier is gonna end up with any lovers, lets see where the muse guides us to.  
I also will be putting a quote featured in Fallout in the beggining of each chapter. This one is quoted by Wadsworth.)


	2. Chapter 2

Quote: "I know who you are. You are walking death, a plague in human form. Where you step, blood flows like a river"

* * *

The two following days consisted of him observing his cell trying to find any flaws in their security. So far he had found a sad amount of them.

His cell consisted of a small room with a not very comfortable mattress lying on the ground, a sink through which only flowed a stream of poorly tasting water that at least had no rads. The room also had a toilet that was about as clean as it smelled.

So far he had only seen that the sink could be moved a bit.

At 2 PM they would go to what was like a gym of sorts in a big room. The gym was surrounded by a fence and behind that fence were many guards, all armed with rifles, and some even with machine guns. On the way there, the prisoners were being watched by at least 20 guards all armed with rifles and carbines.

On the gym, there were only prisoners inside. The fence had many signs saying things about how the guards are armed with live ammunition and they had orders to fire if riots or fights happened. The Courier felt overwhelmed with hospitality.

Inside were many tools one could use to shape their bodies to be more efficient. The Courier was ashamed of how much he would use these machines to get himself into fighting order.

Some of the convicts wondered who that man was, with a back filled by a big tribal tattoo, with an eye on its center, then branching off to many other smaller tattoos. They talked about stealing from him, and maybe "Having a bit of fun with him". The Courier would just eavesdrop and wait for them to try something. The Courier was starting to get bored.

* * *

On the seventh day though, something unusual happened. After eating his crappy lunch given to him in his cell, a guard approached his cell and said:

"Get up, sunshine! You have a visitor, and this one is a Captain in the NCR, so watch your mouth!"

The Courier had no idea who it could be. Maybe those NCR pigs wanted information to help them with the annexation of Vegas?

As he walked to the room, he couldn't help but notice how unguarded the way to the room was. Finally a flaw in the security, even if it was a small one like that, it already gave a small hope. Something that the Courier had started to lose fast.

He entered a small room with only a table, a couple of chairs and a bottle of purified water.

The guard told him to sit in one of the chairs and cuffed his feet and hands to to the chair he sat on. The Courier could still move his hands to the table, but not much more. As the guard left the room, he informed that the Captain had gone to the Men's room and would be back soon.

The Captain arrived a minute after the guard left.

He had a tissue wrap covering half his face, but the Courier felt like he was somewhat familiar. Maybe he had shot him once?

He said "Hi" and offered his hand for a handshake.

The Courier didn't shake it.

The Captain let out a smile and a small laugh. Then he removed his face wrap.

"You never did tell me your real name." As the Captain removed his face wrap. The Courier realized why he felt that familiarity. Boone.

The Courier didn't know what to feel. He felt so many things. Betrayed, angry, like he should leave him in the middle of a cazador nest or just skip the trouble and shoot him right there. But the feeling that most scared the Courier was that of feeling happy that Boone was ok.

" You never asked me. Besides, I only give it to people I can really trust. You didn't stick with me for long enough for me to trust you." The Courier answered.

"I'm asking you now."

The Courier stayed quiet for a while, wondering what to answer.

" Courier Six" he finally said.

" That name I already know, everybody does. I want your real name."

"That's my real name. My last one belongs to someone else."

"What's your old name then"

"My old name? Nash told it to me when I asked him how I was before I got shot. It was Rob. They used to call me Robbie."

"Just Rob? No surname? Don't know the name your parents gave you?"

"It was Rob... something, don't really remember, don't really care. I have no idea who they are. I can't remember their names. I wish I did, but I don't." Rob said

"Really? And you don't try to find out who you used to be?" Boone asked

"You just said it, its who I used to be, not who I am now. The person I was before? I don't know him. I don't remember him. As for my past, I remember some fragments. No names, no dates, no specifics. Just some memories, the kind that don't leave your head, no matter how many times I get shot."

"Like what?"

"I can describe the day I left my tribe to become a Courier like it was happening right now. The feeling of sadness, my family saying goodbye, as proud to see their youngest kid leave the house as they were sad." Rob said, showing deep sadness.

"You were a tribal? Is that why you have that tattoo?" Boone said surprised.

"Yes, my tribe had some of the best scouts and hunters in this continent. They had been taught to speak English and to fight by the New Caananites. The tribe's symbol weapon was the Fire Axe. This tatoo, its my tribe's symbol, the eye symbolized our great scouting techniques. The stuff branching out was like badges, or trophies for doing something specially dangerous and helpful to the tribe."

Boone wondered what some of those branchings meant, one of them resembled a pistol, the other one a deathclaw, another of an Axe. He had about twenty of those smaller tattoos.

Boone was then reminded of how the Courier always carried the Gobi campaign rifle and an Axe he had nicknamed Knock-Knock, using the first to weaken the enemies and finishing them up with the latter. With deadly efficacy. Sometimes he didn't even use the Gobi rifle and just charged with Knock-Knock.

It was a scary sight to see him charging into a group of raider.

Seeing him survive was even scarier.

Then, the two ended up thinking about the times when they were traveling together. First just hunting down Benny, then they set out to try and help the people of the Mojave.

Giving Primm its required sheriff, exploring Vault 34, helping Reyes with her communications problem and finding out and convincing Chief Hanlon to stop altering reports, helping Novac with its ghoul problem... Those had been some easier times.

"So... Captain?" Rob finally said

"Yeah, after I left you, I traveled to some of the NCR's cities more West. There, people got frequently raided and mugged, so I set up a task force of some of the retired veterans to help secure our city and its supply lines. We couldn't do much, but what we could, we did well. The NCR saw our good work and gave us a promotion and started talking about securing their territory. They probably wont, but it felt good to be saving people and helping other, after seeing what the Mojave suffered. I heard you tried to do the same, but for the people of the Mojave, too bad it didn't work out."

"Didn't work out? What do you mean?"

"We heard reports, on how some settlements were suffering so much after you took over the Dam, some even starved."

"What? None of that happened. I used all the favors I still had by that point and some of House's resources, but we were prospering. Freeside and Westside were actually good places to live in now. We had secure trading routes, from the Mojave Outpost all the way to Nellis Airport. The Boomers started trading with outsiders! I don't know who told you that, but they were lies."

Boone stared at him for a second. Was he actually telling the truth or was this one of his sad attempts at showing how the NCR is evil and all that stuff?

"You know, you don't have to lie to me about the NCR anymore. I'm the only person that is going to be talking to you while your here, you should probably start being sincere about it. And explaining some stuff. Like, where did you when you disappeared for weeks or even months?" he concluded it was probably the second option

The Courier felt angry when he realized that Boone still didn't realize what the NCR would do to their enemies or anybody who didn't allow them to annex them or their territory.

But that last phrase, that gave him shivers and cold sweats just from remembering...

"And why every time I mention it, you make a look that you don't even do when you face deathclaws" Boone continued, noticing Rob's expression.

_...Sierra Madre and the Divide_. Rob thought to himself. There wasn't much in this world that would scare the Courier, but these places were definitely places that did. He hid those memories in the darker corner of his brain, trying to forget them. Places that had scarred him. The mere thought of the words "Let Go" or "Begin Again" could make him have nightmares and cold sweats.

"I'll think about that proposal, I might tell you about one of those times. The time I left and returned with the .45 Pistol I so dearly love. If I ever gain enough trust, I might tell you about the others, but you will need to gain A LOT of trust before I even consider doing that. " The Courier said.

"I would also like to know what made you decide not to side with the House, or the NCR, or even the Caesar's Legion. None of that bullshit about them being stretched too thin, or being corrupt, those are not the real reasons and both of us know it."

"Do you really want to know? The real reasons?"

"Yes, yes I do. I want to know why you do what you do to those poor Troopers you tortured." Boone said, feeling disgusted at the memory of that Trooper he once saw.

Almost every bone in its body had been broken, then he was left, not being able to move, frying on the sun of the Mojave, while he was eaten alive by Ravens.

" Then I will tell you, it will take more than one visitation though" The Courier completed.

"Good, because I need to get moving. Next visit?" Boone said, as he looked at his wrist watch.

"Sure, just be warned, you might lose a bit of faith on your loved nation." Rob answered, with an evil smile on his lips.

* * *

Then he left the visitation room and was escorted to his cell, where he passed by prisoners who were leaving the gym, because the gym hour had ended.

"Hey, you are the mighty Courier right?" One of the prisoners asked, the way he said 'mighty' showed a lot of hate.

"Depends" The Courier asked

"Well this is a message from Lanius" the prisoner said as he delivered a punch in the Courier's jaw.

The Courier reached one of the nearby guard's police baton and gave the prisoner a very, very painful hit on his right temple and was about to give him another swing when a guard intervened and took the baton of his hand and quickly zip tied his hands.

"Tell him he needs to put a leash on his messengers." the Courier mocked, grinning. Then he spat on the Legion soldier. Then he looked at the other convicts in their eyes, and said: "Try me again, and i wont be as merciful".

(A/N: Thanks to the guys that subscribed, means a lot, really inspired me to make this chapter fast.  
Also, this chapter's quote was by Father Lasher, from Fallout 1. Please remember to give me a review so i can improve!  
Now i will be showing a bit of the Courier's past, and that big tatoo he has.)


	3. Chapter 3

"I know who you are. You are walking death, a plague in human form. Where you step, blood flows like a river."

After the fight with the legion soldier, the Courier no longer heard anybody talking about him like he was a helpless innocent. Some convicts had started to talk with him occasionally and some even had invited him to join their gang. The Courier had yet to decide, if he really was to join any one of them, they might be useful to help him escape the prison, but he always prefered to ride solo.

He had kept talking with Boone too, he visited him twice every week. The Courier had already told him about his experiences in Zion, now Boone had asked him to tell him about his tribe.

That was why the Courier was going to the room where they talked.

"Hey" Boone said, raising his hand.

"Hi" The Courier replied, wondering whether he should shake his hand. He ended not shaking the hand. Boone was still an NCR pig.

"Will you ever shake my hand" Boone asked grinning

"I wouldn't get my hopes too high" The Courier said.

"So there still is a chance?" Boone asked, somewhat surprised

"A small one"

"So... will it be today you will tell me about that tatoo?"

"I guess it will be. It's a proof that you became an adult. But 'adult' might not be the best word. You could become an adult at the age of 6 and you could just become when you were 30 years old."

"What was the determining factor?"

"You became an adult when they considered you had done something of valor for the tribe."

"What did you do?"

The Courier lifted his shirt and showed Boone his back and pointed to the part that resembled a Deathclaw.

"See this part? It's a deathclaw. In my tribe, your dad could decide what you would be trained to do. Mine wanted me to be a medic. I... didn't share his opinion. I wanted to be a hunter, so between lessons, I would sneak out and watch the hunters do their job. I brought my axe and a 9mm pistol everybody got when they became 10 years old.

So this day the hunters went out hunting in an area they had never been to. I of course, followed them, but keeping a distance because I wasn't supposed to be there.

They ended up going to a deathclaw nest, and you can guess how that went. They got spotted and ended up inside a cave, with their back against the wall, with the deathclaws running into the cave.

They killed a lot of them, but then they started running out of ammo, and things got real nasty.

So here I was, watching my childhood heroes cornered by deathclaw, so what do I think? Let's go help them out!"

"So a kid barely on his teens running against a pack of deathclaws? That can't have gone well"

"It almost didn't. I ran in swinging my axe, I cut one of the deathclaws' spines, and he fell dead, but now I saw the 2 other deathclaws turning around and looking at me like the easy prey I was, so I started running. Then one of the caught my leg, I tripped, fell and turned around. I saw it going for a bite, so I panicked and threw sand at his eyes. He recoiled back, and I took my 9mm and shot him in the face as many times as I could.

Of course they were still 9mm, so they did nothing to it. All but 2 of the rounds. Those 2 rounds hit it in each of its eyes and blinded it. I took this time to start running from it, until I saw an Axe smash down into its head.

My stupid attack gave some space for the hunters to kill the deathclaws that were trying to kill me."

"So you killed a deathclaw when you were a kid?"

"And saved about 6 men doing it. After that, they considered me an adult, and gave me that tattoo."

"Shit. So you were already killing deathclaws when you were a kid?"

"I never did settle for little."

"Ain't anybody gonna argue about that. Where was your tribe located?"

"I don't really remember, I only know that it was near the NCR's border. Which brings me to another topic, the reason I hate the NCR. You sure you really want to know this story?"

The Courier said, getting ready to open a few old scars.

Boone looked at his clock: "Sorry I guess we will have to leave that one for the next day"

"You will know where to find me"

* * *

And so the Courier left the room, escorted by a guard, which took him to the gym.

There he was approached by one of the convicts that had asked him if he wanted to join their gangs.

"Hello, Courier" He said. He was a tall, very muscled man. One of the thoughest looking guys in that prison. And in THAT prsion, that wasn't easy to pull of.

"Hello, Mr..."

"Marshall, I'm not here to bother you with my gang anymore. I have heard rumors about your wish to leave this place..."

"I don't think I'm the only one that wants to leave this place"

"... and your power. I have heard you were the Mayor of a city opposing the NCR?"

"You heard right, you can get me out of this place?" The Courier said.

"I might, that would depend on what my reward for that might be" Marshall answered

"What do you want it to be?"

"As you might know, the NCR is trying to annex your city. If it were to succeed, after that, it would attack my people, and we would be crushed. So I would like you to give us protection for the NCR, and we will help you on your fight.

"Who is your people. Legion?"

"Oh no, we are not those assholes. We are... much stronger people, that have opposed the NCR log before the Legion even existed."

"You're... Great Khans?"

"Indeed. We both know that the NCR has a special kind of hate for my people, and that we can't, and wont survive another fight with it. And that you need as many people as you can to help you fight a nation. Give us a safe home, and we won't disturb you."

"You let me out of this jail, and then we will negotiate terms. Also, you do me this favor, and I will be very thankful." The Courier didn't really believe it would be very beneficial to let the Great Khans, but right now, his city was being invaded by NCR assholes and he didn't have time to play diplomat.

"What do you want?"

" I need to know how bad the situation is in Vegas, about NCR's invasion."

The Khan looked at Rob for a few seconds, as if planning something. Then he answered:

"I'll get a guy to check it out, but I heard it was bad. Should take about 3-4 days."

"Thanks. I'll make it worth your while. Do keep me in the loop about the escape."

"Will do. You will have to use your... skills for when we get in trouble."

The Courier nodded with a small smile, and walked to his cell.

Hopefully, his stay in this place would be a lot shorter than advertised.

Hopefully.

* * *

Three days later, Boone returned to hear the story of how the Courier came to hate the NCR.

"Hey"

"Hi"

"So you were gonna tell me the story of how you came to hate the NCR?" Boone asked

"I guess this is the day. So, I already told you a bit about my tribe. Well, it was located close to what used to be the NCR border. The NCR wanted to advance into our territory, and my tribe said that they could, as long as they allowed the tribe to live in peace. But there was a tribe that was particularly disliking of the idea of having their 50 year old territory stolen from them just like that. So they fought back.

The NCR would get constantly defeated in guerrilla warfare by the other tribe. And the other tribe started to attack our hunters for "helping the murderers", so my tribe offered their territory for the NCR to build a FOB in.

That FOB helped the NCR immensely.

One day though, a squad of troopers saw a bunch of tribals and thought they were their enemies. So they killed the tribals in cold blood.

They were part of MY tribe. The ones that were helping them.

My tribe instantly, but peacefully asked the NCR to get out of their territory. That they were not allowed to have that FOB there anymore, and gave them 2 weeks to leave our territory.

The NCR, though, didn't agree with them.

So one day, after hunting for the tribe, the hunters, me included, returned to our tribe with the great news that we had hunted enough Yao-Guai for the rest of the week.

When we got to our tribe, we only saw death and suffering. The whole tribe had been slaughtered and our houses burned. Nobody had survived. Not even the children, or the elderly. Just all of them, shot on sight. Everybody, shot right between the eyes.

And not even the aggressive tribe would have done this. Not with this amount of efficacy, planning, and precision. This had to be NCR, some of the NCR's best.

And it really was. Whole operation had been planned and executioned by the NCR's best snipers.

Wanna guess who they were?"

Boone was thinking, it couldn't have been them, right? No way, too big of a coincidence.

"Time's up. I bet you knew the answer. It was the one and only, the 1st recon!" The Courier said, glowing with hatred. "I have to admit, we really never did see it coming. And it was the last thing a full tribe of innocent people never saw. You guys really are good at what you do!"

"W-What? The 1st tribe wouldn't do that! Not a whole tribe!"

"Yeah, not like Bitter Springs, right?"

Boone was barely able to contain himself from delivering the strongest punch he had ever given.

That one hit a nerve. The Courier knew it would. It was his goal.

"Miscommunication right? I bet that's what they tell anybody that questions their orders. Worked with you, though, so it can't be that bad an excuse. Makes ya wonder, how many "Terrorist" or even "Raider" towns you wiped out.

The Courier was starting to enjoy this. He didn't just want to open a wound, he wanted to shove his finger in it.

"No surprise the 1st didn't miss a shot, or had the highest confirmed kills number in the NCR, its not very hard killing civilians is it?"

That one did it. Boone stood up from his chair, and as angry as the Courier had ever seen him, tried to dish out the hardest punch he could. Just like the Courier wanted.

The Courier, expecting this, quickly dodged it, and gave out another one to Boone's gut, which ended in a painful grunt.

As Boone hugged his gut involuntarily, the Courier took this chance to grab his head and smash it against his knee, which left Boone unconscious.

Quickly, an NCR guard comes rushing into the room, trying to control his prisoner.

Rob, however dealt with him with a strong kick to the crotch, he took his pistol and shot the guard in the head. He also took the chance to open his handcuffs and used them to tie Boone to the table.

"I guess the escape is gonna have to be a bit sooner" He thought, as he left the room.

* * *

(A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the slow update, but with school and stuff, this will start slowing down. Today's quote was brough to you by Father Lasher from Fallout 1. Thanks to everybody that subscribed and favorited the story, really makes me feel better! Hopefully you liked this chapter as well!)


	4. Chapter 4

Josh knew he had to hurry up if he wanted to escape that prison alive, but his mind was stuck on whether he should release the Great Khan that wanted to help him, or just make a run for the exit. Releasing the Great Khan would mean he would probably have to open all the cells, and he wasn't sure he wanted to release the assassins and murderers that were in this place, but hey, they might do some harm to the NCR, and who would the infamous Courier be to judge them anyway, right?

He just took the guard's guns and ammo. He thought about taking his armour, but he would rather die than using the Bear's armor.

He ran for the way that had the least soldiers. He couldn't afford to be found and pinned down.

_But where to go? 3 magazines of service rifle ammo and and 1 and a half of 9mm pistol won't take me very far. Armory? Nah, that's probably too guarded. _

_Should release prisoners, then go to the armory while the guards try to control the situation._

_But where can I release them... Maybe the controls are on the Warden's office._

But he didn't remember where the Warden's office was...

Then he noticed the vent to his side on the wall. That should at least help him not get spotted.

So he climbed inside the vent. The vent was completely dark, but big enough for the Courier to fit inside.

A few minutes after he started crawling, he heard a loud alarm. They had found the guard. In a few moments they would have entered full lockdown and probably have called the NCR Army too.

Rob just hoped this vent would lead somewhere useful.

After a few minutes of crawling he saw another vent door. He looked out, he saw soldiers running around. Lots of them.

_Too many. Lets just keep moving and hope this leads somewhere else._

It took 2 minutes tops to find the end of the vent, with no exit besides the one he had already seen.

_Fuck._

How was he going to remove the vent door without alerting every guard in that room?

"Hey, we've got a riot in the cafeteria!" The Courier heard, and saw almost every soldier but 3 in that room leave.

He kicked the vent door and ran at a soldier, and grabbed him by his neck while going behind him, holding the soldier like he was a hostage. He went for the soldier's holster, took the .556 pistol that was in it, and shot the other 2 guards, each in his head, that were wondering whether to shoot or not. He looted the guards. 4 more magazines for the Service rifle.

Now, he planned his next move. Should he head straight for the warden's office, or should he help with the riot the guard talked about?

He chose to help the riot, but he had almost no idea where he was.

He checked the pip boy. When he was in the prison, he made sure to keep the local map updated. Now it was going to be helpful.

The cafeteria was east from here, farther than he would like.

As he was sneaking to the cafeteria, trying not to be seen, he was starting to see more and more chaos. Lots of corpses lying in the ground, dead, both from the NCR and from the prisoners, but with the latter far outweighing the first.

In the cafeteria though, that was real madness. Both sides trading shots at each other, some prisoners wielding improvised weapons, bashing soldiers with fire extinguishers and trash cans.

Since Josh had been silent in the way in, he had the NCR's backs to him. He took full advantage and within a few minutes and magazines, all soldiers had been taken care off.

"Who are you?!" A prisoner asked.

"Another one of you. I'm coming in." Josh said, and showed himself, with his hands up.

"Well, if it ain't the Courier." Marshall, the Khan smiles.

"Missed me?"

"You can't imagine." Marshall replied, grinning.

The Courier observed the rag tag defence set up by the prisoners, surprised. They can fight better than expected.

"Although I would love to stay here and keep chatting, I believe we should start talking about an escape plan." Josh finally suggested.

"That's easier said than done. What do you have on your mind?" The Khan asked.

"Well, we have two choices, none easier than the other. We can, either try to head for the exit as fast as we can hope that the guards haven't organized a good defense, or we head to the warden's office, open all cells, and then try to escape with the rest of the prisoners, with risk of having to fight a more organized defense." Josh explained.

"So its either time or numbers?" Marshall asked. A few seconds later he said: "I say we get out as fast we can, before the reinforcements arrive."

"Ok, speed it is. Remember, we are trying to not attract attention. That means only shooting we have to." He looked at Marshall "You have been here for longer than me. You will know your way around here better than me."

"I'll lead" Marshall said as he nodded.

The other prisoners looked at them and one said "What about us?"

"After I get to Vegas, I'll rescue you. I promise you." The Courier said

"And for now?" The prisoner asked, visibly annoyed for being left in the prison.

"For now, I will leave you here. I'm sorry. I would advise you to either organize a force to open the rest of the cells, or honestly, give up on the riot. Either way, act fast." And the Courier left.

And the Courier and the Khan acted fast and silently, hardly encountering any resistance from the guards, most of whom we busy trying to stop the riot.

When the Courier first came to the prison, he thought the prison looked like a Vault. Now he realized he was probably more right than he thought, as he watched the exit of the prison across a corridor. It was clearly based on a Vault. It was nearly identical to every other Vault, with the giant metal door (although this one didn't have the same shape that other Vaults had) with it's opening mechanism. The door was open, the room, scattered with bodies.  
_Someone was faster than me. _

As he stepped outside, it took a while before his eyes could get used to the brightness of the sun. He saw 3 bodies, wearing prisoner clothing. He looked ahead and cursed his bad luck.  
Ahead of him was a field with about 500m with no cover, surrounded with watch towers.

How he was supposed to cross the field without getting shot was beyond him.  
He heard "Fuck" as Marshall looked outside and realized the situation they were in.  
"Now what?"

The Courier was nearly about to start panicking when he got an idea. A desperate one, but the best one he got yet.

He ran inside, told Marshall to dress NCR armour and did the same.  
The Courier explained the plan to Marshall and did his morning prayers. _If this works, I'll be worshipping Lady Luck everyday to the last day of my life._

* * *

The watchtower guards were on orders to shoot on sight anybody since the riot began. But when they saw a soldier carrying another one on his shoulders, they couldn't shoot.

"Soldier! Stop right now or you will be shot!" The guard yelled  
"Don't fire! He's injured, we barely escaped the prisoners. You have got to help James! Please, he is bleeding!" One of the soldiers yelled.  
After that, there was silence.

"Do you believe them?" Said one tower guard to his partner.  
"Of course!" The partner replied  
"Should we really help them? You know our orders, shoot on sight"  
"He is bleeding! We have to help them!"  
"What if their just prisoners in disguise?"  
"Look, I'll go check their ID's. If they check out, we help'em, if not, I'll nod to you and say: They are ours. If i say that, shoot them."  
"Ok, but if you end up dead, I'm not taking the blame for it."

* * *

"Do you think they believed it?" Marshall asked  
"Let's hope so"

Then they heard the guard yell: "I'm sending my friend down there to check your ID's. You better have them, or you are ending with more holes on you than swiss cheese." And they saw a guy go down the watchtower's ladder.

The guard walked up to them, as the Courier saw his face, he felt it was familiar..

"Sargent Miller, Omega Squad. Who are you?" The guard asked. The Courier felt butterflies in his stomach.

"Omega huh? We're Alpha" The Courier answered.

"Is that so?" The soldier laughed and blinked an eye. The Courier started wondering how lucky he could. Omega and Alpha squads were the callsign for the Courier's spies to recognize each other. If one were to say something about Omega, the other one would answer something about Alpha. The first spy would then answer: Is that so?

He heard his spy yell to the guard "HEY JIM, HELP ME WITH THESE GUYS". As Jim came down the ladder to help them, the spy stabbed him in the back with his Combat Knife.

Wow. Even the Courier expected that to be done in a... cleaner way. And he blew up a president.

"Walk about 50 meters forward and wait a bit, just going to tie up some loose ends, make sure they don't trace this back to us." Miller said

Rob and Marshall did as requested, although it took the spy was taking his time.  
"He isn't going to betray us is he?" Marshall whispered to Rob."No. I think. I don't know. This has already spiralled way beyond plan, so right now, I know about as much about whatever he is doing as you do." Marshall answered. _Is he?_

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Miller arrived.  
"Sorry for taking too long, i just had something i needed to do a long time ago." He said. Rob looked at him, and saw a detonator in his hand. _Is he?_  
"I'll make the waiting worth it though. Turn around" And the spy blew all of the other towers up in a "beautiful" display of pyrotechnics. Nobody would suspect the dead guard, and Miller's disappearance. "I was wondering when i was going to be allowed to do that. Finally."


	5. Chapter 5

"People called me a hero after what happened at HELIOS, but I left that battle scarred by fear, and have allowed that weakness to govern my actions."

Elder McNamara

(A/N: It happened again. As always, reviews allow me to improve and give me a sense of responsibility towards ending chapters, so please leave one,specially if it has (constructive) criticism. Read away!)

After we escaped the prison, Miller took the escapees to a nearby town. He said he would try to find someway to get them from here. He also told them that they were just east of Junktown which was, thankfully for Rob, the settlement in NCR closest to New Vegas.

Until then, Rob and Marshall would have to stay inside Miller's house.

Rob asked for as many newspapers as he could get so he find out what had happened while he was gone.  
He learned that only the government had access to printers to prevent people from printing NCR currency, so the only newspapers there were were filled with propaganda. But Rob was able to filter the propaganda from the reality, and was able to learn some stuff.

That's how he came across a headline talking about a successful retaking of of the Hoover Dam, by the NCR.

Could it be true? Could the NCR have really retaken the Dam?

He left the army's leadership up to Arcade Gannon. And he had trained him to be good at it. It was hard to teach a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse that a well planned battle will be a massacre for the opposing side.

But that left him even more worried. If it wasn't tactically they lost the battle, how was it? Did the NCR really have that big an army to overrun them? How many troops were lost with that battle?

Rob just realized he needed to get to New Vegas as soon as possible.

He just tried to stop thinking about it and hope it was propaganda.

He tried.

\- A few days ago, when Rob was beginning to grow impatient, Miller returned with the info that he might have found a way to get them to New Vegas.

A trading caravan was looking for guards to do a trading run, and they were going to pass by New Vegas to supply the NCR troops and the resistance fighters. It was the perfect opportunity.

Rob was thankful he had a person like Miller helping them. Its no surprise he was one of the Courier's top spies.

It wasn't being too easy to stay at Miller's, though. After the prison riot, the NCR have been conducting random door-to-door searches and there have been times where they were nearly caught. Miller was also interrogated several times to find out why he was one of the few guards that survived.

The Courier couldn't wait until he could return to his city. He was scared that by the time he arrived to New Vegas the city would no longer be his. Or worse, there could be no city at all, just a bunch of smoking ruins.

Marshall also wanted to return to his land. He was more patient than Rob though, having a almost strange trust that his people were fine. Rob wasn't too sure, the NCR probably weren't going to settle for Vegas once they had it under control.

Miller had been assigned to help with the reconstruction of the prison. After the riot, the place was a complete wreck. Most of the prisoners had escaped, almost all guards were dead and all of the equipment, guns and armor that could be stolen was, and the rest was destroyed.

Rob would have to wait for a week for the caravan to start their journey. They would provide him and Marshall the guns to defend the caravan plus they would also give them the food. They were paid 2000 caps as a starter, and will be payed 2300 more when they reach the border. But if any trader was to die, they would lose 20% of their cut for each trader lost.

It was just fine for Rob. He didn't need the caps too much, and as soon as they reached the border, he would part ways with the caravan and with Marshall and would attempt to get into Vegas.

He just hoped the plan would go better than it went last time he tried to escort a caravan. Happy Trails. Everybody but him ended up dead, and he barely survived the ambushing party.

The Courier stood infront of the window staring outside. Next to him, Marshall was painting. He was able to paint beautifully, and he liked to do it. He was painting a Yao-Guai. It looked similar to the ones Rob saw in Zion. He wondered where Marshall had seen a Yao-Guai, but right now he didn't want to talk. He was just staring at the sandstorm outside, wondering how long it would take for Miller to arrive home.

"So why did you start fighting the NCR?" Marshall asked

"Huh?" Rob asked, surprised by the question

"Well, the only explanation i have ever heard was that you had gone insane and started firing for no reason. Then you got declared a terrorist. But i doubt that's the truth. I have also heard how it was something you had seen in the Divide, or that it was because you saw what happened at Bitter Springs and you realized what the NCR really did. I've heard all kind of explanations from all kinds of people, but i have never heard your explanation." Marshall continued

"Why did i start fighting the NCR? That's a long one..."

"Time is something we currently have to spare." Marshall quickly replied

"Well, there is no one thing that i saw that made me want to fight the NCR, it was a mix of several things. One of them was what i saw in the Divide.

There i saw just how the NCR have no care or respect for other civilizations. How they have forgotten what the things of the Old World can do if you don't handle the properly. I'd rather give the Enclave a nuke than give it to the NCR. The Enclave would know how to handle it, and what it does and how it works. The NCR would just see what it can do with it. Probably give it to an enemy that also knows nothing, so that they see what happens when you mess with it.

One of the biggest ones was related to Bitter Springs. I have travelled through all of it. And anywhere i went, i saw someone hurt by the NCR's politics and way of acting. Raiders, wars, invasions, things like the Powder Gangers.

When i was working with the NCR, they asked me to try to join many factions to help them in overtaking Vegas and winning the 2nd Battle for the Dam, i remember them ordering me to wipe the BoS. Now, i have no special likes for the BoS, they are little more than well armed, armored and trained raiders, the real problem is what their motive was. _T__hey might end up being a inconvenience. _That's it. They were willing to wipe out a full group, a tribe with nearly 100 members just so that they don't be too much of a bother. The BoS, in that bunker, were harmless. And the NCR knew that, but still, anybody that stands in front of them and their wish for endless conquering is to be smashed.

The people of New Vegas deserve a rest. They deserve some peace. They need it. You don't imagine the things that were about to happen when i killed Ben. 4 Mad men fighting for power and land."

"And what makes you different to those 4 guys?"

"I didn't fight for power. It was thrusted into my hands by a 9mm bullet and a thirst for revenge. One second I was going to to kill the guy who shot me, the next second I have the 3 most powerful factions in the Mojave inviting me to be their errand boy."

"And why do you think you have the right to wield that power?"

"If all it took for me to get it was a wish for revenge, that power wasn't being well used nor kept." The Courier ended.

After that day, most others passed quickly, with Miller making the final preparations for Marshall and Rob's trip.

(A/N: As always, here is my apology for the time that this took to be published, specially for a below 1500 words chapter. Hopefully summer will allow me to start pumping out chapters faster! Also, apologizing for any grammar mistakes, i hate to read them in other stories too, but as a non english native, this is something that i'm afraid i can't prevent. )


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